What would you? St. Louis vs Kansas City (Center, Rea: 2015, how much)

[mjtinmemphis]

Originally Posted by Caesarstl

Interesting comments about BBQ... KC has much more notoriety here traditionally, but STL bbq joints keep popping up on a lot of "Top BBQ" lists; additionally, STL's location between (kind of) KC and Memphis has kind of put it in a good location for styles (in addition to its own twists) and variety.

If Kansas City tops st. Louis BBQ, I've got to make a special trip to Kansas City. What restaurants should I look for? In St Louis I love salt and smoke as well as sugar fire.

[lepoisson]

Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis

If Kansas City tops st. Louis BBQ, I've got to make a special trip to Kansas City. What restaurants should I look for? In St Louis I love salt and smoke as well as sugar fire.

My top 3 picks in order of preference:

1) Joe's KC BBQ (really anything here is good)
2) LC's BBQ (you have to get the burnt ends!)
3) Gates (good food, but it can be inconsistent at times)

[Truly Missouri]

Originally Posted by STL2006

I would definitely take KC BBQ, but they'd probably insist we traded our craft beer scene. Now THAT would be a tough choice!

Just me, but I wouldn't trade BBQ.

Originally Posted by Caesarstl

Interesting comments about BBQ... KC has much more notoriety here traditionally, but STL bbq joints keep popping up on a lot of "Top BBQ" lists; additionally, STL's location between (kind of) KC and Memphis has kind of put it in a good location for styles (in addition to its own twists) and variety.

You do make a great point. St. Louis will get the variety of having the best of what both KC and Memphis have to offer. But I still prefer the recognition that KC gets.

Originally Posted by lepoisson

My top 3 picks in order of preference:

1) Joe's KC BBQ (really anything here is good)
2) LC's BBQ (you have to get the burnt ends!)
3) Gates (good food, but it can be inconsistent at times)

Not to mention Arthur Bryant's and, Jack Stack.

[STL2006]

Originally Posted by Truly Missouri

Just me, but I wouldn't trade BBQ.



You do make a great point. St. Louis will get the variety of having the best of what both KC and Memphis have to offer. But I still prefer the recognition that KC gets.



Not to mention Arthur Bryant's and, Jack Stack.

I love Jack Stack BBQ. Joe's is great, but inconsistent at times. I agree STL's top BBQ joints can rival KC's top BBQ joints, but the sheer number of great and very good BBQ restaurants in KC is way more.

[lepoisson]

I've only had Jack Stack twice, but was very disappointed. The meat was dry, and for what I got, overpriced. However, the restaurant was fancy looking (which may explain the price).

[STL2006]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

I've only had Jack Stack twice, but was very disappointed. The meat was dry, and for what I got, overpriced. However, the restaurant was fancy looking (which may explain the price).

Wow, sounds like you've had a very different experience than me. I also really like that it's upscale BBQ. Makes for a nice place to have dinner and a beer. BBQ places that feature plastic cups and trays are a dime a dozen (Gates excels at that), but it's hard to find a BBQ restaurant that actually has waiters and cloth napkins. Asking people their favorite BBQ place can be like talking politics or religion. . I actually just saw that we used the exact same phrase to describe Joe's and Gates. That's what I'm talking about.

I do know that Joe's BBQ, Fiorella's Jack Stack BBQ, and Arthur Bryant's routinely score at the top of national and regional lists.

[DogtownBnR]

No doubt, I'd take the Plaza area, as well as Brush Creek. That area is cool. I'd also take the fountains. While I'd never trade the CWE for the Plaza, it would be cool to have the Plaza near or in the CWE.

I'd also love to have Sporting Park and the Raceway. If the North Riverfront stadium is built, I will be fine with it. I think it will be as nice as Arrowhead and will seat more for BIG TIME soccer events. For MLS, the rendering look pretty cool. Not sure how it will play out in comparison to Sporting Park.

Regarding BBQ, STL's BBQ scene is becoming a force to be reckoned with. Pappy's and the family tree that has sprouted out from Pappy's, is getting recognition nationally. Pappy's is constantly on lists for best BBQ in the US, including recently #1 on Zagat's ranking list.

Our beer scene is overshadowed by AB and often overlooked, but it is one of the best in the US. I'd keep that over BBQ, but that will not be an issue, if the BBQ scene here, keeps on rising.

If I were KC, I'd take the following from STL: Downtown sports venues, craft beer scene, historic buildings and nabes, roughly 800K more people, Forest Park and 9 fortune 500 companies.

Too bad the two cities aren't closer. Combine the 2 and you have quite an awesome & diverse city.

One thing neither city should want is Yael Aboulhalkah.

[FrankMiller]

Maybe someday in our lifetimes we'll have high-speed rail between STL and KC, and we can have the occasional lunch in the other city.

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis

If Kansas City tops st. Louis BBQ, I've got to make a special trip to Kansas City. What restaurants should I look for? In St Louis I love salt and smoke as well as sugar fire.

I recently ate at Salt & Smoke and it was quite good.

[kcmo]

Things to make KC better:

I would trade Penn Valley Grass (I mean Park) and replace it with the very active and vibrant Forest Park.

I would take the "location" of a downtown ballpark from StL, but would want to keep something similar to Kauffman architecturally (all the retro parks look the same now).

I would take the MetroLink out of StL and place it in KC. KC's streetcar will be nice for local urban transit so they have to keep that in KC as well. I would give St Louis 50 miles of underused freeway for metro link. KC has too much freeway capacity.

Please give KC your airport terminal, heck, at this point, I would give StL the KCI terminal for the StL greyhound bus terminal. That would be an improvement for KC.

You can have all of Johnson County's office parks if KC gets Clayton in return.

Swap out the universities (UMKC for UMSL, Washington, SLU etc)

KC can give StL "some" bbq for the Hill.

KC needs NHL! Can they trade you some ECHL action for the Blues?



Things to make StL better:

Um, downtown StL still needs a ton of redevelopment and could use some of the residential development going on in KCMO.

MLS Soccer stadium, although it looks like StL may get that done with the new stadium. Not sure about using an NFL venue for an MLS venue though. No matter what you do, it will just be too big and it won't feel like the home of the soccer club. It will always be the home of the Rams. At least it won't be in the parking lot of a furniture store in exurbia though.

StL could use attractions like the WWI museum, Steamboat Arabia and NLBB Museum.

The Plaza/Westport is better than Central West End / Loop.



Combine Worlds of Fun and Six Flags and stick it in Columbia and you might have a park that will start to rival some of the bigger parks in the country.

Oh and "Joe's" bbq is the most overrated bbq in KC. May as well go to deli in the suburbs and pour some sauce on a turkey and cheese sandwich.